Even though numerous rumours were circulating suggesting that Team Sky’s leader Christopher Froome may need a surgery on a back injury which pulled him out of the Tirreno-Adriatico, information were denied by team’s manager Dave Brailsford. In addition, according to the Kenyan-born Tour the France winner and an official website of the British squad, their key rider is back in training since the withdrawal was an effect of applying a “better safe than sorry” kind of approach.

 

Froome’s withdrawal came as a big surprise following his more than convincing performance in the Tour of Oman last month, but was timed just perfectly to move the Paris-Nice defending champion Richie Porte to retake the leadership role in Italy, a bold move that enraged the race organizers and secured Team Sky an impressive amount of headlines in cycling media over the weekend.

 

However, the threat if an operation on the back injury, more precisely called “slight inflammation to the sacroiliac joint in the lower back”, was never real, what has been confirmed by Team Sky’s manager Dave Brailsford.

 

"No operation is needed. He's got a small inflammation but we just decided to rest it so that he can get rid of it. It's as simple as that. No operation," Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford told Cyclingnews when asked for a reply to the rumours.

 

"As with all these things, we shouldn't make more of it than it is. He'll be back racing in Catalunya next week."

 

Brailsford also played down a suggestion than the injury could have been caused by the change of Froome’s position on a bike – an issue which has been significantly improved during last winter-break, especially in regards to his riding style when under extreme effort. Team Sky manager strongly insisted that this kind of problems are typical for professional riders at a particular level.

 

"I think sometimes it happens. I think top riders struggle with little things, little niggles," Brailsford told Cyclingnews.

 

"That's all it is, a niggle. We just want to be careful. If it was any other rider, maybe we say 'Ok, push on.' But given the goals of the summer and where we're at now, we just wanted to proceed with caution.

 

"While Tirreno-Adriatico is a very important goal, you need to know when to manage things and when to push on. We felt this was a time to manage it. Chris is not chasing form, he's in good shape, so a couple of days to relax and get back on top of things is a wise move."

 

Team Sky manager also pointed out that the withdrawal from Tirreno-Adriatico shouldn’t significantly affect preparations of the Kenyan-born rider to his Tour the France title defense, as Froome missed the Paris-Nice, taking place in the same week as Italian stage race, in 2012 season what didn’t have any negative influence on his performance in the French grand tour.

 

"We're not overly concerned. Two years ago when Chris finished second in the Tour de France, he missed Paris-Nice. That was in the back of our minds and reminded us that we've been here before. He's in good shape and I don’t think anyone should make more of it than what it is."

 

Shortly after rumours concerning the surgery were denied by Brailsford, Froome has posted a picture on his twitter account suggesting that he was back in training and already tuning his disposition on some summits near the Mediterranean coast. Good news were confirmed by the Team Sky’s official website and it was announced that the Tour the France winner will return to competition at the Volta a Catalunya next week.

 

“A few days' rest let the inflammation go down and everything’s been going really well since then.” 

“I’m now mid-way through a good, solid block of training which is taking in a lot of the mountains near the Cote d’Azur,” Froome confirmed for Team Sky official website.

 

"I’ve been on my own for a lot of it because most riders are racing at the moment, but that’s allowed me to focus fully on my recovery.”
 

The British rider admitted he regrets missing Tirreno-Adriatico, but hopes to make up on the lost time during the Volta a Catalunya where he expects to face a stiff enough competition to make for a hard week of racing.

 

“I’m training hard for that right now and looking forward to competing again. It’s a very testing race and they’ve put some pretty hard stages in there with some tough summit finishes. It’s going to be a good test for everyone, and with it being a WorldTour race, we’ve got a really strong squad going there.”

 

“I’ve ridden Catalunya twice before at Team Sky and really enjoyed it. It’s hard to find races that go high up into the mountains at this time of year, but Catalunya always provides that and it attracts the best general classification riders as a result.”

 

“Alberto [Contador] is likely to be there, so it’ll be interesting to race against him again in the mountains, and Vincenzo [Nibali] could ride it as well, but I haven’t seen a full start list as yet.”

 

“I’ll be watching all my closest rivals on TV this week and it’s a rare situation to be in actually because I’m normally racing with them. I’ll be able to see who’s going well, and who’s not at Paris-Nice and Tirreno, and that’ll give me an idea of who’s going to be up for it in Catalunya.”

 

“Between now and then I’ll be gradually ramping up my preparations and I can’t wait to get going again.”